Bisexual Foundation Scholarship Award

The Bisexual Foundation Scholarship is an annual fund awarding up to $1000 per award to selected graduate students to advance research on the psychology of bisexuality. This new award recognizes the growing importance of research on bisexuality to the field of LGBT issues in psychology and offers concrete support and encouragement to emerging scholars in this field.

Applicants must be currently enrolled full-time in a Department of Psychology at the graduate level. Applications from students in allied disciplines, such as social work and sociology, cannot be considered at this time.

2012 winner

Jaclyn Lambe, MA

2011 winner

Matthew Stief, MA, Cornell University

2010 winner

Vali Dagmar Kahn – University of Massachusetts, Boston
Project Title: The Social Negotiation of Ambiguous In-Between Identities: Investigating Identity Formation in Bisexual and Multiracial People

2009 winner

Lindsey Brooks - Lehigh University
Proposal: Bisexual Counseling Competence: Investigating the Role of Attitudes and Empathy

Guidelines for Applicants

Contents of application materials

One copy of the project description (please omit identifying information)

One letter from the applicant’s faculty supervisor addressing the quality and feasibility of the project, and qualifications of the applicant

The project description must be written in APA style (i.e., in accordance with the current Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association). The project description may not exceed 11 pages, including references, and must be double-spaced, have 1-inch margins, and be submitted in 12-point, Times New Roman font. The review of the project description is anonymous, so information identifying the applicant and institution should not appear anywhere in the project description.

The project description should include (a) the background and rationale for the project, including a succinct summary of past empirical findings that informed the proposed study; (b) a clear statement of the research questions or hypotheses; (c) the methodology, including description of and rationale for the participants, measures, procedures, and data analysis; (d) anticipated or achieved findings; (e) potential implications of findings for the field; (f) timeline listing when each phase of the study would likely be completed (if it has not yet been completed); and (g) statement supporting the feasibility of the project.

The participant section should address the ethnic and cultural diversity of the (actual or anticipated) sample, where appropriate, and, where relevant, the procedure section should describe how ethnic, cultural, and other diversity issues are addressed in the project. Applicants are encouraged to consider the proposal evaluation criteria (see below) when writing their project description.

Submission instructions

Complete applications must be submitted on or before February 1, including the letter for the applicant’s faculty supervisor. Late submissions will not be accepted for any reason, including technology related difficulties. Applicants will receive an email confirmation that their materials have been received within one week of receipt. If you do not receive confirmation, please feel free to contact the Scholarship Committee Chair.

Applicants must submit the cover sheet, CV, and project description electronically (preferably in an electronic zipped folder, named as the applicant’s last name). These materials should be attached to a single email message to the following address: Bisexual[dot]Foundation[dot]Award[at]gmail[dot]com (replace [at] with a @ and [dot] with a period). In the email subject heading please type “Bisexual Foundation Application (Your Name)” and type in your full name where indicated. For example, if your name were Jane Doe, your subject heading should be Bisexual Foundation Application (Jane Doe). Materials should be prepared in Microsoft Word format (preferably “doc” rather than “docx”). To facilitate record keeping, please use the following convention in naming your electronic documents: Document Type (Your Name). For example, if your name were Jane Doe, then your document names would be Cover Sheet (Jane Doe), CV (Jane Doe), and Project Description (Jane Doe).

The applicant’s faculty supervisor should attach her or his letter to an email message sent to the following address: Bisexual[dot]Foundation[dot]Award[at]gmail[dot]com (replace [at] with a @ and [dot] with a period). The email subject heading should be “Bisexual Foundation Letter (Applicant Name)” with the student applicant’s full name where indicated. For example, if the student applicant’s name were Jane Doe, the subject heading should be Bisexual Foundation Letter (Jane Doe).

Applications failing to meet the guidelines listed on this page (including late or incomplete applications) will not be reviewed. If you have any questions about the guidelines, do not hesitate to contact the Scholarship Committee Chair.

Evaluation of proposals and selection of award recipients

The project description for each proposal will be evaluated by two or more reviewers using the following criteria: (a) relevance to the objectives of the award; (b) completeness, logic, and relevance of the literature review to the development of the research question(s); (c) clarity of the description of the research question(s); (d) appropriateness of the methodology to answering the research question(s) (e.g., sampling methods, sample size, established validity of instruments, and data analysis techniques); (e) overall originality and innovation of the proposed study; (f) quality and completeness of the interpretation of the (actual or potential) results; and (g) feasibility, including likelihood of timely completion of project and dissemination of results.

Selection of award recipients will be mostly based on reviewers’ evaluations of project descriptions. However, supplemental materials (i.e., CV, letter) will also be considered in the selection process.

Notification and Conditions of Acceptance

The Division 44 Scholarship Committee Chair will notify the award recipients. The names of the award recipients will be announced at the APA Convention in August, in the Division 44 newsletter, and on the Division 44 webpage and listserv. Award recipients must submit a 1500-word abstract of the project for publication in the Division 44 Newsletter. Award recipients must acknowledge the Bisexual Foundation funding in all publications and presentations resulting from the project. Award recipients are also encouraged to submit proposals to present the project’s findings at the Annual APA Convention. Disbursement of the award is contingent on evidence of IRB approval at the recipient’s institution (and any other institution involved in the study that requires review by its own IRB).